A quiet notice V2Melody closes at midnight on , Spanish time.

Closes

A note from Richard

V2Melody will close at midnight on 20 January 2028

This site has been a retirement project in musical poetry: poems chosen with care and set to music, offered freely for as long as it felt right to keep the garden open.

The work no longer holds the place it once did in my life. I have gone as far with it as I wish to go. Like a sand mandala, it was made to be completed and then released. I am not attached to its permanence, and I do not believe any of it needs to last beyond the time it was given. The poems were already here before I arrived and began to experiment with them. They will still be here when these musical experiments, and indeed myself, have been swept away, like the sand of a mandala. Nothing has been lost.

I want a simpler end to my life, days of simple love and enjoyment with my wonderful wife of 20 years. The work of maintaining a server, the monitoring, and the residual obligations that come with keeping a site alive no longer fit that life.

From 4 November 2026 I will not be adding new poems or musical poems to the site.

The experimental music I am making now is on my Suno profile. Those pieces stay there, and are not added to this site.

Until midnight on 20 January 2028, Spanish time, everything remains available exactly as it is. That is when my VPS server contract comes to an end, and it will not be renewed. After that, the server will be switched off and the site will disappear.

The Mandala Is Finished explains this more fully.

Thank you to anyone who found a poem, a track, or a quiet moment here.

The pleasure was in the making.

Richard

Home › Glossary › Letter M

marlinspike

Tools
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A marlinspike is a tapered metal or wooden tool used by sailors to separate rope strands, splice lines, and work tight knots.

Detailed Definition
The marlinspike belongs to traditional seamanship, where its smooth point opens rope without cutting fibres and provides leverage in splicing or untying. It therefore carries the atmosphere of decks, rigging, storms, and skilled maritime labour. In poetry it may authenticate a nautical scene or symbolise patience with tangled difficulties. Because it enters knots in order to loosen or remake them, the tool can represent interpretation, reconciliation, memory, or the careful unravelling of bonds that cannot simply be severed.
Example
Example in poetry:
The sailor worked the marlinspike between the strands of the rope; A marlinspike may symbolise patient efforts to loosen complicated knots; In nautical poetry, the tool adds authenticity to descriptions of rigging and deck work; He entered the tangled memory as carefully as a marlinspike entering a splice.
Additional Notes
A marlinspike is a specialised maritime tool used to open rope strands without cutting them. It supports splicing, knot work, and repairs to rigging, making it a precise marker of nautical knowledge. In poetry it may establish authenticity in scenes involving sailors, ships, storms, or dock work. Symbolically, it can represent the patient loosening and remaking of complicated bonds. Related terms include rope, rigging, splice, knot, sailor, seamanship, fid, deck, line, leverage, entanglement, repair, and the careful unravelling of relationships or memories.
Also Known As
marlinespike marline spike marlin spike marlingspike
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